Trauma, Primitivism and the First World War: The Making of Frank Prewett

by Joy Porter

Overview

This book examines the extraordinary life of Frank "Toronto" Prewett and the history of trauma, literary expression, and the power of self-representation after WWI.

Joy Porter sheds new light on how the First World War affected the Canadian poet, and how war-induced trauma or "shell-shock" caused him to pretend to be an indigenous North American. Porter investigates his influence of, and acceptance by, some of the most significant literary figures of the time, including Siegfried Sassoon, Edmund Blunden, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves.

In doing so, Porter skillfully connects a number of historiographies that usually exist in isolation from one another and rarely meet. By bringing together a history of the WWI era, early twentieth century history, Native American history, the history of literature, and the history of class Porter expertly crafts a valuable contribution to the field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350199972
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/17/2022
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Joy Porter is Professor of Indigenous History at the University of Hull, UK and Leverhulme Major Research Fellow, 2019-2022.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Being Frank Prewett

Chapter 2: The Complicated Experience of Combat in the First World War
Chapter 3: “Shell-Shock”
Chapter 4: Primitivism, “Toronto” Prewett & Dr William Halse Rivers Rivers (1864-1922)
Chapter 5: Adopting the “Toronto” Personality at Lennel & Meeting Siegfried Sassoon
Chapter 6: Prewett's Friendship with Robert Graves & Trauma Poetry
Chapter 7: An “Iroquois” at Oxford and Garsington
Chapter 8: Repatriated to Suburbanizing Canada: November 1919- January 1921
Chapter 9: “Mad in the Peace”: Farming & Trauma Poetry
Chapter 10: Prewett Responds to Changes in the Land
Chapter 11: Conclusion: Protest Memory and Soft Primitivism

Editorial Reviews

"Buried alive in April 1918, during the massive German offensive on the Western front, Frank Prewett clawed his way back to life and to poetry. He breathed the war into his verse and into his fragmented post-war identities. This book provides a poignant portrait of a life lived in the shadow of the trenches and marked indelibly by the performative language of shell shock." --Jay Winter, Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University, USA

"Joy Porter's Primitivism uses the little-known Canadian poet, Frank Prewett, as a means to explore the experience and aftermath of the First War from a refreshingly different perspective. It's especially fascinating to learn more about the remarkable W.H. Rivers and his colleague Henry Head, figures well-known to admirers of Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy. Well researched and thoughtfully written, Porter's book enlarges our understanding of the work done by Rivers and his team at Craiglockhart, while it adds much intriguing new detail to the larger social world in which the handsome Prewett played an intriguingly ambivalent role" --Miranda Seymour, Author of Robert Graves: Life on the Edge (Simon & Schuster, 1995) and Ottoline Morrell: Life on the Grand Scale (Faber & Faber, 1992)

"A brilliant account of Prewett's remarkable and intriguing story which opens many questions about identity and belonging, about power and manipulation in the creation of public reputation, and about the fatal risk of losing yourself to what other people want you to be" --Paul O'Prey, Author of Counter-Wave: The Poetry of Rescue in the First World War (Dare-Gale, 2018)

"Trauma, Primitivism and the First World War is an engrossing read ... It offers a rare insight into the long reach of trauma and presents the story of a complicated figure through a lens that pairs decidedly contemporary anecdotes with detailed evidence." --Literary Review of Canada

From the Publisher